The Obama Agenda Part I: Guns

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/urban_policy/

"Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent."

Lets look at this one part at a time:

- The Tiahrt Amendment
The Tiahrt Amendment prevents the BATFE from releasing information from its firearm trace database for any reason other than a criminal investigaiton. How does that restrict law enforcement the tools to solve crimes and fight illegal arms trade? Those are criminal investigations. The only thing I can see coming from this being repealed is that the database will be used for things not related to criminal investigations such as identifying gun owners.

-Closing the gun show loophole
Two questions: First, What is wrong with the sale of a firearm between two private individuals? Second, how would this be constitutional? No where in the constitution can there be found anything allowing this (and under the 9th and 10th amendments that means they can't do it); the closest it comes is regulating interstate commerce, but in know way is one person selling a gun to another "interstate commerce."

-Making guns in this country childproof
Uhh... What does this mean? Locks? Wouldn't that kind of make it hard to defend yourself? I mean, if someone is threatening you or your families life they probably aren't going to give you the time to unlock your gun. If the parent is smart and teaches their child proper gun safety (such as never even think of touching this without me present), then it's perfectly safe to have guns in the house.

-Making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent
YEAH! BAN THOSE SCARY GUNS!
In addition to some specific models, here's the definition of an "assault weapon" from the original ban:
"`(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of--
`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
`(iii) a bayonet mount;
`(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor; and
`(v) a grenade launcher;"

None of these add to the danger of a weapon (except a grenade launcher, but since grenades are destructive devices and nearly impossible to get legally, it's pointless). A folding or telescopic stock simply make the weapon easier to transport (a rifle with a folded stock is still to big to be effectively concealed) or capable of being adjusted for needs, respectively. A pistol grip simply makes the weapon easier to handle. The bayonet mount lets you put a bayonet on the rifle... now how many bayonets are used in crimes? A flash suppressor reduces the flash seen by the shooter to increase visibility, it doesn't reduce the flash visible to anyone else.

Since none of these features really add any "danger" (and of course, depriving people of their right to bare arms is unconstitutional whether those weapons are "dangerous" or not), why are they banned? Simple, they are features of scary looking weapons. The combination of this "scariness" and the fact that much of the public believes this ban applies to automatic weapons makes it less likely to be opposed and thus gives an easier inroad into eventually banning all or most firearms.